IPOB sit-at-home order: Alex Ekwueme varsity cancels academic activities for Monday
The authorities of the Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu Alike Ikwo (AEFUNAI) in Ebonyi has cancelled all academic activities slated for Monday.
This is contained in a statement issued in Abakiliki by Dr Ajauka Obasi, the Acting Dean of Students Affairs of the university on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Sunday Elom.
Elom stated that the measure was taken in deference to the sit-at-home order by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to honour those that died during the Nigeria civil war.
He stated that the cancellation of academic activities became necessary “to ensure that lives of the students were not put in danger”.
It read in part: “All students of AEFUNAI are by this notice advised to sit at home today, Monday, May 31, because of the tension and threat to security created by the activities of IPOB and other groups.
“This is to ensure that our students are safe, while we make adequate arrangements for the security of lives and property on campus.”
Meanwhile, social and economic activities in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi capital, have been brought to a standstill as businesses and shops remained closed.
A resident of Ezza Road, Abakaliki, Mr Martin Eze, told newsmen that the ever-busy Ezza Road was completely free of vehicular and human traffic.
He said that only a few tricycle (keke) operators and commercial motorcyclists were intermitently seen on the road but without commuters.
Eze, a businessman at the Abakaliki International Market, said he decided to observe the sit-at-home order because of his “genuine sympathy” for the over three million Igbo people that died during the war.
“Movement is paralysed around this area. The IPOB order has stalled social and economic activities in Abakaliki.
“I didn’t go to market because I don’t want to put my live at risk,” Eze said.
At Ishiagu in Ivo Local Government Area, social and commercial activities were paralysed as shops and other businesses in the community remained closed.
An indigene of the town, Mr Paulinus Okoro, told newsmen that the IPOB order recorded total compliance in the area.
“The roads are bereft of human beings. Schools, businesses and commercial activities are not open and residents have remained indoors since morning.
“There has never been a year the sit-at-home order received this level of compliance in Ishiagu,” Okoro said.
Many private and public schools in Abakaliki did not open, in spite of heavy security presence in the town.
A team of heavily armed security operatives and men of Ebube-Agu security outfit were seen keeping surveillance in Abakiliki metropolis.
